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January 22, 2010

Road Trip: Radio show on tour

Variety show coming to a venue near you

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS

TRAVERSE CITY -- The Roundup radio variety show is hitting the road.

The weekly program -- taped at the Hayloft Inn and broadcast on WNMC -- will be making its way to a location near you beginning in February, said show host Bill Dungjen.

"We're going to take our Roundup radio show with Sour Mash, the (bluegrass) house band, to different venues around the area -- township halls, association halls, Elks clubs -- and we'll invite hand-picked guests a la Garrison Keillor," Dungjen said, referring to the host of the national radio variety show, "A Prairie Home Companion."

The Roundup road trips will be more polished versions of the regular show, which generally airs at 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays and at 5:30 p.m. on Sundays, Dungjen said. The show is recorded live at the Hayloft's Thursday open mic nights and features local performances by everyone from singers and instrumentalists to comedians, poets, actors and dancers.

"There aren't any rules. Come in and we'll amplify it," said Sour Mash fiddler Jonah Powell, who records, mixes and edits the show. "Bring in whatever you do and we'll make it louder -- unless you're a mime."

The open mic sessions begin at 8 p.m., with each participant playing a short set. Starting at 10 p.m., those who want get another turn at the mic, only this time to record. At the end of the night, musicians combine for tunes including "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," the traditional Roundup closer.

Powell distills the best of the entertainment into a half-hour show to air a few weeks later.

"I think people enjoy it," said WNMC Station Manager Eric Hines of the radio broadcast. "A half hour, for a variety show, is not a lot of time. It passes quickly. People notice it, particularly when there's not a new one."

Dungjen started Open Mic Night at the Hayloft around 2003 after hosting similar nights at Cedar Tavern and Mackinaw Brewing Company. But it wasn't until about six months ago that the radio show got off the ground.

"We had sort of a bumpy start," he said, adding that original plans for an hour-long show using extensive sound equipment were scaled back. Now the show prides itself on an older, single-mic style of acoustic music played in a homemade enclosure -- a car tent stood on ends, a piece of carpet and a red velvet curtain from the old Leland school stage.

"We capture with this rig the most natural, beautiful sound you've ever heard," said Dungjen, who also plays mandolin with Sour Mash.

Tom Carr has been playing open mic nights at the Hayloft for about four years and said having the shows recorded raises the performance bar.

"It's not like it makes me nervous, but it might make it a little more competitive," said Carr, a freelance writer and "hobbyist" blues, rock and country musician. "Because on a night when everybody's good, you think, 'OK, for the radio program, what am I going to pull out of my hat to make it (on the air) when they boil it down into a half-hour program.'"

Watching regulars like Carr grow in their music is among the most satisfying parts of the show, say Powell and Dungjen.

So are the unexpected moments, like the time a national touring performer showed up after playing Ann Arbor's The Ark, or the time a local newcomer contributed to a show that was so hot two broadcasts were cut from it.

"This kid rolls in, 18, 19," Dungjen recalled. "He sat in a booth in the back, and he got up with this guitar, an unassuming guy, and tore the roof off the place with this percussive, tapping, finger-style guitar like Michael Hedges. Then this young lady got up on flute and they covered a Michael Jackson song. You never know what you'll get."

For more information about The Roundup or upcoming road trips, visit www.wnmc.org or www.cedarvalleyproductions.us.

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